Zero to 8 minutes at breakfast

A training story from Puppies chew shoes, don't they?

Puppy: Lilly.
Breed: Lab.
Age: 6 months
Scenario: 3-week board and train

Lilly had very little self-control – pretty standard in pups. Fortunately, she was food driven. And after a good night’s sleep, she was hungry. Perfect time to train.

Lilly had a terrific sit/stay but a sloppy down/stay. This first morning of “board and train” she earned her entire breakfast as we worked on her down/stay.

Since tracking training results is extremely important, I pulled out the stopwatch. I put Lilly’s dog food in her dish but made it inaccessible to her. She could see and smell it but couldn’t get to it. Next, I needed a baseline. I learned she could not down/stay for 30 seconds, so I backed it up to 20 seconds. It took many false starts until she understood that a piece or two of dog food would be delivered by me, by hand, only when she maintained the down/stay. Initially she popped up into a sit as I approached with kibble in hand. Each time she did, I put her back in the down/stay and started over.

Finally, we got our 20 seconds. Then we got 2 minutes. Then 3 minutes 43 seconds. And the last down/stay that first morning, from which I released her for a potty break: 8 minutes 13 seconds.
While the above scenario played out, my two adult Labs were in down/stays about six feet from Lilly. As we worked on the stay, I walked around the living room and toward the end, out of sight into the kitchen. Other dogs and my movement were intentional distractions. More distractions would be added as Lilly got better and better at her down/stay.

That's Lilly in the photo practicing under, down/stay, and watch me during training out in the world.